Manchester City will be aiming to strengthen their hold on first place in the Premier League as they begin 2022 against Arsenal.
With Liverpool and Chelsea both faltering over the festive period, City took full advantage with wins over Leicester and Brentford.
Pep Guardiola’s side now hold an eight-point advantage over their rivals after the title race swung dramatically in their favour at the end of 2021 — and it could get even better for them this weekend.
With Liverpool and Chelsea facing each other on Sunday, City will have the chance to extend their advantage, and potentially land a killer blow to their main rivals’ hopes of catching them this season.
And they’ll be confident of doing so, with Arsenal having been struck by the recent Covid-19 outbreak as manager Mikel Arteta is set to miss tomorrow’s game.
City are unbeaten against the Gunners in the league since 2015 and, although their hosts have been on an encouraging run of form of late, the visitors will be expected to come away with the points as they look for their 11th straight win.
Barring any complications due to Covid, Ederson will continue in goal, with his back four likely to remain very much the same.
Kyle Walker has been back in training ahead of tomorrow’s trip to the Emirates Stadium, although it might prove too soon to throw him back into the side, so Joao Cancelo may well continue at right-back.
With John Stones missing from training this week, Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte will likely continue in the heart of defence, while it’s a straight shootout between Aleks Zinchenko and Nathan Ake at left-back; Guardiola may well choose to go with the former for the natural option in that position.
In midfield, Ilkay Gundogan should return alongside Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne after being named on the bench at Brentford.
Meanwhile, there could be more changes up top, with Jack Grealish’s struggles in midweek seeing him dropping out of the side.
Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling will be gunning their returns to the side after sitting out the midweek win, which could see Gabriel Jesus dropping back out and Phil Foden operating as the number nine.
Predicted Man City XI vs Arsenal: Ederson; Cancelo, Dias, Laporte, Zinchenko; Silva, Gundogan, De Bruyne; Mahrez, Foden, Sterling.
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